Overview

• Coinbase filed for a national trust charter, saying it aims to expand custody, payments and settlement under a single federal framework.
• Company executives stressed it does not plan to become a bank, and the trust charter would not allow deposits, lending or FDIC insurance.
• Coinbase’s primary custody unit now operates through New York–regulated Coinbase Custody Trust Company, which a federal charter could supplement or streamline.
• The move follows July’s U.S. stablecoin law that put the OCC in a central oversight role and recent SEC guidance recognizing state-chartered trusts as qualified custodians.
• Circle, Ripple, Paxos and BitGo have similar applications, Anchorage Digital remains the only approved holder, and OCC review of new bids is pending.